"To think you would allow yourself to be separated from your comrade… You've let
your emotions get the better of you," Hearst said in an almost disappointed voice.
Shea and the apostles were a good distance away from Tio and Freid now.
"I dunno, it seems to me like you're getting pretty emotional yourself," Shea replied,
tapping her boots against the ground to make sure they were still in good working
order.
In the air, the apostles had the advantage. Shea couldn't maneuver as well as them, and
she had to constantly worry about surprise attacks from below. Thus, as they'd pulled
away from Tio's battlefield, Shea had pretended to lose every exchange to fall closer
and closer to the ground. Honestly, she'd expected the apostles to bombard her with
disintegration attacks until she was forced to take to the skies again, but to her
surprise, they followed her to the battlefield she'd chosen.
The five of them surrounded Shea in a pentagram formation and were even
exchanging words with her before attacking. Considering how mechanically efficient
they usually were, Shea found the change odd. Still, she stowed her ball and chain in
her Treasure Trove and took advantage of the moment of reprieve to replenish her
mana from the crystal set in her hammer's pommel.
"Surrender, Shea Haulia. Accept your inferiority and bow before us."
There was no arrogance in Hearst's voice. However, for whatever reason, there was
something akin to hatred. If Shea was fated to die either way, Hearst wanted her to die
in despair with her spirit broken, not after a fierce battle where she fought to the bitter
end.
Normally, Shea would have simply laughed off Hearst's words, but this time, she didn't
respond immediately. In fact, her mind was covered in a haze, and for a moment, she
almost felt like it wouldn't be such a bad idea to surrender here.
"Ah!"
The moment she realized what was happening, Shea bit her lip, the sharp pain clearing
away the fog addling her brain. She then looked back up just in time to see a
disintegration beam heading straight for her.
"Don't underestimate me!" Shea shouted, swinging Villedrucken at the beam. The
sealstone coating, combined with the mana shockwaves it emitted and Shea's insane
strength, allowed her to disperse the beam with one swing.
After that, she brought her hammer back up, lowered her center of gravity, and perked
her ears up to prepare for the next attack. In an angry voice, she spat, "You're making
a big mistake if you think your mind-control magic's gonna work on me."
"I must admit, I'm impressed that you managed to break free of my charm so easily.
It's been strengthened significantly," Hearst stated. She hadn't actually expected it to
work, though. Her goal had been something else entirely.
"However, it seems you didn't see any possible futures where you died while under
the influence of my charm, did you?" she asked. Shea's ears twitched as she realized
the charm spell had just been an experiment.
"What of it?" she asked warily.
"I suppose that means I still haven't decided whether to overwhelm you with our
superior might or to force you to use Future Sight so much that you run out of mana."
"Now you're just pissing me off!" Shea scowled, the fur on her ears standing on end.
Hearst was sorely underestimating Shea, treating her like a rabbit that had already
been cornered. She seemed to think the only question remaining was whether it
would be more enjoyable to end it in one blow or to torture her prey to death. Weirdly
enough, it almost sounded like she had a vested interest in deriving as much pleasure
from Shea's death as possible. However, both her expression and gaze were as flat as
always, and she was simply stating the truth as she saw it after analyzing Shea's
strength.
It was undeniably true that the platinum apostles' stats were far higher than Shea's,
even after her Level IV power boost. The only reason she'd managed to hold on so far
was thanks to her Future Sight.
Shea's Body Strengthening converted her mana into physical might, but it didn't
actually drain any mana to keep active. The reason creatures with extremely high
mana pools naturally grew physically stronger was because they unconsciously
converted the excess mana they weren't using into physical might via Body
Strengthening. But that didn't deplete their mana, as it was simply converting it into a
different form.
However, Future Sight was different. Every use of it cost Shea quite a bit of mana. Plus,
there was a limit to how much reserve mana was stored in Villedrucken's crystal, and
unfortunately, Shea had gone through half of it already. It was hardly surprising that
Hearst thought she had an overwhelming advantage here, to the point where she could
freely choose Shea's demise, even.
That really pissed Shea off, though. After all, the only reason Hearst and the other four
apostles were so confident was thanks to their insanely boosted stats. And the source
of that stat boost was none other than—
"You guys are using Yue-san's mana, aren't you?"
Shea was sure of it. Regular apostles had silver mana, but these apostles' mana had a
little bit of gold mixed in, making it look more platinum. Over the course of her journey,
Shea had seen that golden color more times than she could count. There was no doubt
in her mind that it belonged to her savior, her mentor, and her best friend—Yue.
Of course, Shea knew that it was Ehit who was controlling Yue's body and providing
her mana to the apostles, but that didn't change the fact that these five were stealing
mana that didn't belong to them. Not only that, but they were also using it against the
people Yue cared about most.
"Know your place, you mindless puppets."
Shea was angrier than she'd ever been in her life, but she didn't let that emotion
consume her. After all, Yue had taught her to keep her head clear in battle, no matter
what.
Hearst's lips twitched a little. She looked almost displeased as she said, "Watch your
tongue, rabbitgirl. That body, its mana, its everything, belongs to our lord. The vampire
princess you knew is no more."
"...…"
The air crackled as Shea controlled her rage and used it to fuel her fighting spirit. Then,
in a voice as cold as ice, one she'd never use around Hajime or any other of her beloved
comrades, she said, "Listen up and listen well, you pieces of shit."
She swung Villedrucken in front of her, buffeting Hearst with a gust of wind.
"Yue-san doesn't belong to anyone. And there's only one person in this world who's
allowed to see all of Yue. The monster of the abyss you guys call the Irregular."
Shea was radiating an enormous amount of pressure, while also looking as solemn
and dignified as a sage.
"As a Diviner who can see the future, I'll let you in on a little secret. You and your shitty
god have no future."
Hearst fell silent, feeling the weight of fate in Shea's proclamation. Even though the
sounds of Tio and Freid's battle could be heard in the distance, the island they were
on felt eerily silent. Still, after a moment, Hearst recovered her composure and replied
in a cool voice, saying, "Nonsense. Our lord is absolute. Not even the Irregular could
harm him at the Demon Lord's castle. Besides, look over there, Shea Haulia. Tio Klarus
appears to be losing to Freid as well. She won't last long with those wounds. Plus, you
yourself stand no chance against us. Can you truly not see it? Or are you simply
pretending not to? The ones with no future are you and your companions."
Hearst was simply making what she thought was an objectively correct statement.
And honestly, given what she'd seen so far, she was right. But of course, that wasn't all
there was to Shea Haulia.
"Did I ever say this was the extent of my strength?" she asked, her lips curling up into
a terrifying grin.
"Hm? What do you—?"
Hearst suddenly fell silent as Shea rested Villedrucken on her shoulder and said,
"Level V!"
The air crackled as power surged from Shea, a pale-blue spiral of mana shooting up to
the heavens.
Hearst's eyes widened in shock, and she flatly said, "So you could strengthen yourself
even further?"
Shea leaped forward with enough might to crack the ground underneath her, swinging
Villedrucken down at Hearst, who raised one of her claymores to block. There was a
deafening clang of metal against metal, and the ground underneath Hearst cracked,
but her arm didn't even tremble.
"But that still is not enough to match us."
Using just her arm strength, Hearst pushed Shea back.
It was the sad truth, but even after using CheatMates and getting her body used to
Level IV so she could push to Level V, Shea's trump card still wasn't close to matching
the platinum apostles' strength. If there was anyone who could have checked both
sides' stats, this is what they would have seen:
Strength: 22,000 [Upper Limit: 66,000]
Vitality: 22,000 [Upper Limit: 66,000]
Defense: 22,000 [Upper Limit: 66,000]
Agility: 22,000 [Upper Limit: 66,000]
Magic: 22,000 [Upper Limit: 66,000]
Magic Defense: 22,000 [Upper Limit: 66,000]
A regular apostle only had 12,000 in all stats, while their quasi-Limit Break brought
them up to 36,000. In other words, the platinum apostles had nearly double the stats
of a regular one. Meanwhile, at Level V, Shea's stats were:
Strength: 100 [AFCM (Artifact CheatMate) & evolution magic necklace: 200] -> [With
Level V boost: 38,200]
Vitality: 120 [AFCM: 240] -> [With Level V boost: 38,240]
Defense: 100 [AFCM: 200] -> [With Level V boost: 38,200]
Agility: 130 [AFCM: 260] -> [With Level V boost: 38,260]
Magic: 3,800 [AFCM: 7,600]
Magic Defense: 4,000 [AFCM: 8,000]
She was stronger than a regular apostle, but nowhere near the strength of a platinum
one. Hearst was right that Shea still stood no chance, but she was making one grave
mistake.
As Shea flew through the air, she grinned savagely. There wasn't even a hint of despair
in her eyes. Two apostles flanked her on either side and fired off platinum beams of
light at her, which she dodged by firing off Villedrucken and accelerating her flight
with the recoil. She adjusted her posture midair and swung at Zweit, who'd been
waiting to ambush her from behind.
Then, she shouted, "Level VI!"
"What?!" Zweit exclaimed, lifting both of her claymores to block. Platinum and lightblue mana shockwaves rippled out from the point of impact.
Zweit had correctly surmised that she'd need all of her strength to block this attack.
That was just how dangerous Shea's swing had been. Even after putting her all into
blocking, she'd been pushed backward for the first time, her feet leaving deep grooves
in the ground.
However, Shea's stats still weren't as high as those of the platinum apostles. They came
in at:
Strength: 100 [AFCM: 200] -> [With Level VI boost: 45,800]
Vitality: 120 [AFCM: 240] -> [With Level VI boost: 45,840]
Defense: 100 [AFCM: 200] -> [With Level VI boost: 45,800]
Agility: 130 [AFCM: 260] -> [With Level VI boost: 45,860]
Magic: 3,800 [AFCM: 7,600]
Magic Defense: 4,000 [AFCM: 8,000]
Fortunately, Hajime's artifacts and Shea's own ancient magic were enough to make up
the stat deficit now.
As Shea and Zweit pushed against each other, Shea poured mana into Villedrucken,
causing its head to slide forward and start rotating at high speeds. Zweit barely had
time to register what was happening before Shea hit her with a follow-up attack.
"Take this!" she shouted, squeezing the trigger on Villedrucken's handle. Following
that, there was a tremendous roar as a pitch-black pile bunker shot out of the
hammer's face, pulverizing Zweit's claymores and shooting straight at the apostle's
forehead.
"Ngh?!"
With a grunt, Zweit whipped her head to the side just in time to avoid being gored.
The pile bunker still grazed her, knocking her circlet off and drawing blood. It also
sliced through a few strands of hair, which floated in front of Zweit's face before falling
to the ground.
Dritter flew above Shea, while Vierte and Funfte circled to either side, and the three of
them simultaneously launched feather barrages at her. Zweit also thrust her hand
forward and attempted to hit Shea with a point-blank disintegration beam, while
Hearst closed in from behind and swung her two claymores down at Shea.
There was nowhere for her to run. Hearst and the others were finally recognizing Shea
as a proper threat, so they were trying to eliminate her immediately. They couldn't
afford to take the time to torture her, so they'd decided to go with the "kill her with
overwhelming force" option. In fact, they knew that Zweit would likely get caught up
in this combination attack and die as well but were still going through with it.
Seeing that there was no escape, Shea closed her eyes.
"Have you finally given up?!" Hearst shouted. She couldn't think of any other reason
Shea would close her eyes at this critical juncture. But of course, no one beat this
rabbitgirl when it came to tenacity.
A second later, all of the attacks passed through Shea.
"Huh?!"
For the very first time, the apostles' expressions changed, along with the look in their
eyes. Their surprise was only natural, however, as Shea herself hadn't moved a single
step. And yet, somehow, every single attack had missed her, by virtue of going straight
through her.
Upon closer inspection, Hearst and the others realized that the Shea in front of them
was translucent, which explained what had happened.
Shea had used one of her new spatial magic spells, Half-Teleport. This spell transported
half of her body to different coordinates, making her immune to all attacks hitting her
original coordinates. But in return, Shea herself couldn't attack… or even move. Still,
it was an extremely powerful defensive tool.
In truth, this was a failed teleport spell that only partially worked because of how low
Shea's affinity for spatial magic was. It was only after immense strengthening that
Shea could use this dangerous and defective spell, and if anyone else even tried it,
they'd risk ripping themselves apart.
Of course, because of Shea's awful affinity, this spell cost an obscene amount of mana.
As Shea was using all of her innate mana for Body Strengthening, she couldn't afford
to lose any of it and was relying on the stockpile left in her gem.
In other words, this was the only time she'd be able to use this spell in this fight, which
was precisely why Shea was planning on taking maximum advantage of the opening
she'd created with it.
As soon as the last of the attacks had passed through her, she canceled her HalfTeleport and stepped forward, closing in on Zweit. Zweit barely had time to react
before Shea grabbed the apostle's face in a claw grip and dug her nails into Zweit's
porcelain skin.
"Level VII!"
Strength: 100 [AFCM: 200] -> [With Level VII boost: 53,400]
Vitality: 120 [AFCM: 240] -> [With Level VII boost: 53,440]
Defense: 100 [AFCM: 200] -> [With Level VII boost: 53,400]
Agility: 130 [AFCM: 260] -> [With Level VII boost: 53,460]
Magic: 3,800 [AFCM: 7,600]
Magic Defense: 4,000 [AFCM: 8,000]
Shea's stats skyrocketed yet again. Though she'd come from the weakest race in
Tortus, she was now more than strong enough to utterly overwhelm any normal
apostle with her stats alone.
With her boosted stats, she charged through the encirclement, dragging Zweit along
with her. Her first step accelerated her to the point where the scenery around her
became nothing more than a blur. Her second step made her so fast that Zweit couldn't
move due to the g-forces on her. Her third step broke the sound barrier. And once she
hit top speed, she slammed Zweit into a nearby boulder.
Thanks to Zweit's ridiculously high defense stat, her head didn't pop like a tomato, and
it was instead the boulder that shattered.
"That's not enough to—!"
"Shut the fuck up!"
Shea didn't stop at just the boulder. After it had been pulverized, she kept charging
forward and slammed Zweit's head into the ground. She then stomped on Zweit's head
for good measure, pushing her even farther into the bedrock.
After that, Shea turned around and fired an Area Burst Bullet at Hearst and the others,
who were closing in from behind, and leaped into the air. The ring on her finger
glowed, and she took a massive chunk of metal out of her Treasure Trove. It was
shaped like a cylinder, twenty meters long, and ten meters in diameter. As it started to
fall, Shea extended Villedrucken's handle and stuck the entire hammer into an opening
on the cylinder's side.
It was then that Hearst and the others realized what it was Shea had brought out.
This was Villedrucken's new peripheral attachment, the hundred-ton hammer. Its
weight was slightly reduced via gravity magic, but it was still too heavy for anyone
other than Shea to wield. She swung it like a pendulum, using momentum to raise it
high into the air.
Meanwhile, Zweit used disintegration magic to extricate her head from the bedrock
just in time to look up and see Shea hurtling down toward her with the hundred-ton
hammer.
"I'll grind you into dust!" Shea roared as she swung her hammer down, generating as
much force as one of Hajime's Gravity Meteors. Her insane strength, combined with
the sheer mass of the hammer and the force of gravity aiding the swing, was enough
to smash through the entire island they were on if she hit it directly.
Zweit covered herself with her wings in an attempt to block, but it wasn't nearly
enough. The hammer smashed into her with the force of an asteroid, and the entire
island shook as it sank a few dozen meters lower. Massive cracks spread out from the
point of impact, covering the entire island's surface, as Shea's hundred-ton hammer
rested atop Zweit like a grave marker. The shockwave caused by the impact was
enough to stagger Hearst and the others as well.
After a second, just to make sure she'd gotten Zweit, Shea activated the hundred-ton
hammer's special ability. There was a high-pitched whine as the face of the hammer
started rotating at high speeds.
"Hajime-san said it best… Drills are justice!"
The hundred-ton hammer's true purpose was to pin an enemy down, and then start
rotating at high speeds with its bladed end to slowly rip them to shreds. The whole
thing was also coated in sealstone to make it impossible to destroy with disintegration
magic. As the hundred-ton hammer slowly drilled its way into the ground, it shredded
through more and more of Zweit.
Hearst didn't seem to care at all about the predicament she was in, and she along with
the other apostles simply charged at Shea. They finished surrounding her just as she
extricated Villedrucken from the hundred-ton hammer.
Unfortunately, the giant pillar was right behind her, preventing her from backing away,
which was why Hearst and the others had opted to surround her. They didn't know
Shea couldn't use Half-Teleport anymore, so they'd gone through the trouble of
surrounding her like this instead of simply bombarding her with ranged attacks.
"You're finished! We'll just keep stabbing you until you phase back into solidness!"
Hearst shouted. And in response, the four apostles thrust their eight claymores at Shea
from all sides.
Again, there was nowhere she could go to dodge, so she pulled out a different trump
card.
There was the sound of metal clashing against metal as the claymores hit Shea's body.
She hadn't used Villedrucken or even an artifact to block the attacks. She'd simply
stopped them with her bare body.
This was her new metamorphosis magic spell, Steel Form. It hardened her skin until
it was as tough as steel. Like Tio's scale armor, it used the trace amount of metals in
her body as a base for creating the defensive coating, and it also cost an enormous
amount of mana, though not quite as much as her Half-Teleport. Moreover, it
splendidly did its job of stopping the apostles' claymores from stabbing her head,
neck, shoulders, arms, chest, and legs.
"You won't get to pierce my body that easily," Shea said in a cocky voice.
The apostles couldn't even refute her words, since their swords really had been
repelled. The disintegration-magic coating on them was chipping away at Shea's
defenses, and she had been cut lightly, but it would take more than a few seconds to
fully break through. And of course, she wasn't planning on giving them that time.
Shea shrank Villedrucken's handle back to its normal length, then grinned at Hearst,
who was still trying to process the strange way in which she'd used metamorphosis
magic.
Before Hearst could stop her, she yelled, "Level VIII!"
Strength: 100 [AFCM: 200] -> [With Level VIII boost: 61,000]
Vitality: 120 [AFCM: 240] -> [With Level VIII boost: 61,040]
Defense: 100 [AFCM: 200] -> [With Level VIII boost: 61,000]
Agility: 130 [AFCM: 260] -> [With Level VIII boost: 61,060]
Magic: 3,800 [AFCM: 7,600]
Magic Defense: 4,000 [AFCM: 8,000]
Shea's aura of mana pulsed once more as her stats grew yet again. She was pretty close
to the apostles in stats now, and they looked visibly worried for the first time.
"Impossible. No mortal should be able to reach this level of might."
"Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but surpassing our limits is what we mortals do
best."
Shea knocked Hearst's swords back with Villedrucken, in a complete reversal of the
first time they'd clashed. Now it was Hearst who was left defenseless, which Shea took
full advantage of.
"Hiyaaah!"
Shea swung Villedrucken in an arc, building up centrifugal force before slamming it
into Hearst's stomach.
"Gah!" Hearst shouted, coughing up blood as she was sent flying. She dropped one of
her swords as well, her hand numb.
Dritter tried to take advantage of the opening Shea had created when she'd attacked
to cut her down, but Shea just let herself free-fall back to the ground to dodge instead.
Vierte and Funfte launched a barrage of feather and beam attacks at her, but she just
used Prophetic Visions to dodge out of the way.
Unless the apostles bombarded her from all sides, no ranged attacks would be able to
hit Shea. Moreover, thanks to their ability to share thoughts, Dritter and the others
knew that Hearst had taken a pretty crippling blow and that Zweit had finally been, as
Shea put it, ground into dust by the hundred-ton hammer's drilling.
Apostles were one of the symbols of Ehit's absolute might, and these upgraded five
were especially symbolic in that regard. And yet, they were being pushed back by the
very same opponent they'd been overwhelming mere moments ago. On top of that,
one of them had been slain and another gravely injured.
As Dritter and the others closed in on Shea, they thought back to what she'd said
before round two had begun.
"You and your shitty god have no future."
Dritter gritted her teeth, reminding herself that Shea had simply been speaking
nonsense.
"Shea Haulia! You are no longer welcome on our lord's game board!" she shouted,
trying to get Shea's ominous prophecy out of her head. Leaving a trail of glowing
platinum motes behind her, she dived toward Shea at top speed. She then swung her
claymores down with enough strength to split the island down the middle.
In response, Shea simply readied Villedrucken for a parry swing, as if the difference in
kinetic energy between the two of them meant nothing to her.
Foolish girl, now you've finally gotten too cocky! Dritter thought, preemptively
celebrating her victory.
While it was true that Shea had strengthened herself to an inordinate degree, her stats
were still lower than the apostles', and Dritter's attack was boosted further by the
power of gravity. There was no way Villedrucken would be able to fully block Dritter's
attack. And yet, Dritter couldn't help but feel a sense of unease as she drew closer.
Why…? Why are you opening your mouth?! What are you about to say?!
Of course, Dritter knew exactly what Shea was about to say. Reading lips was but a
simple task for someone as powerful as her, and she had, of course, heard Shea make
the same mouth movements exactly five times before. Still, in a manner that was very
uncharacteristic of an apostle, Dritter couldn't help but hope that Shea was doing
something else.
Shea Haulia had been born as a somewhat unique member of the world's weakest
race. Despite being a rabbitman, she'd mustered up the courage to challenge enemies
far stronger than her. And as a result, she'd grown stronger the more she fought.
Even a dragonman who'd lived for over five hundred years had praised that courage
of hers, saying she was more fit to be a hero than the real hero. Among the people
who'd been born and raised within Tortus, she was undoubtedly the strongest.
Slowly but surely, she'd built up her strength… and now she'd finally clawed her way
up to the realm of the strongest apostles.
Dritter felt a shiver run down her spine.
"Stop!" she pleaded.
"Level IX!"
Strength: 100 [AFCM: 200] -> [With Level IX boost: 68,600]
Vitality: 120 [AFCM: 240] -> [With Level IX boost: 68,640]
Defense: 100 [AFCM: 200] -> [With Level IX boost: 68,600]
Agility: 130 [AFCM: 260] -> [With Level IX boost: 68,660]
Magic: 3,800 [AFCM: 7,600]
Magic Defense: 4,000 [AFCM: 8,000]
At long last, Shea Haulia had surpassed the apostles in stats. She swung Villedrucken
up to intercept Dritter's claymores.
An explosion of shockwaves erupted from their weapons as they clashed, and the
ground around Shea sank, forming a crater. However, Shea herself was unhurt. Even
though Dritter's swings had been backed by a heaping dose of kinetic energy, the two
of them were evenly matched. Sparks erupted from the point where Villedrucken and
Dritter's two swords met.
"It is the height of blasphemy to dare to match an apostle's might! Die, Shea Haulia!"
Dritter exclaimed. She sounded so furious that it was hard to believe anyone had once
thought the apostles emotionless. She flapped her wings, trying to add more force to
her attack to bury Shea Haulia once and for all. But for all of her outward anger, she
knew the emotion she was truly experiencing right now was fear. She was fighting as
hard as she could to try to push that fear out of her mind.
Shea, of course, sensed that fear, so she gave Dritter a toothy grin, looking more like a
wolf than a rabbit.
"Hah, you're finally starting to act like a person instead of a doll! I like it!"
Suddenly, something wrapped around Dritter's neck.
"Is this… hair?!"
Indeed, it was Shea's hair. It coiled around Dritter and started choking her while also
dragging her sideways. Shea tilted Villedrucken to the side at the same time, causing
Dritter's claymores to slide past Shea and leaving the apostle exposed. Vierte and
Funfte were coming in from either side to pincer Shea, but she was ready for both of
them as well.
"Outta the way!"
"Ngh!"
Shea punched Dritter on the cheek, sending her bouncing across the ground toward
Vierte. Vierte easily managed to dodge out of the way, but that ruined her coordination
with Funfte, so her attack was slightly delayed.
Shea then turned to Funfte and opened her mouth to speak the dreaded words once
more.
"Impossible! This can't be! No one should be able to defeat us!" Funfte shouted, her
expression stiff. Unfortunately for her, there was nothing she could do to stop Shea.
"This is the last one… Level X!"
Strength: 100 [AFCM: 200] -> [With Level X boost: 76,200]
Vitality: 120 [AFCM: 240] -> [With Level X boost: 76,240]
Defense: 100 [AFCM: 200] -> [With Level X boost: 76,200]
Agility: 130 [AFCM: 260] -> [With Level X boost: 76,260]
Magic: 3,800 [AFCM: 7,600]
Magic Defense: 4,000 [AFCM: 8,000]
Her sky-blue eyes glowed like jewels. The roaring storm of pale-blue mana
compressed to a small, sky-blue sphere around her, making her look like a mini-planet.
Shea's physical stats were so unbelievably high now that they surpassed the apostles'
by a good ten thousand. They could no longer even touch her.
Shea leaped forward, and to Funfte, it looked like she just vanished. At this point, it
was the apostles' eyes that couldn't keep up with Shea's speed.
Funfte didn't even have time to get over her shock before a shadow appeared behind
her. Right as she turned around, she saw Shea's hammer bearing down on her.
"Ngh, how can this be happening…" Vierte mumbled, watching on in horror as
Villedrucken slammed into Funfte and turned her into little more than a bloody stain
on the ground. Her legs turned to jelly as she realized she'd end up like that as well if
she charged in blindly.
Dritter, who'd finally recovered, felt the same way.
Vierte turned to her and said in a shaky voice, "Dritter, at this rate…"
She couldn't bring herself to finish that sentence, however.
Dritter said nothing in response and instead turned to Shea. Upon examining her—or
more specifically her hammer—a little more closely, Dritter noticed something.
"That's…"
Villedrucken was filled with countless tiny cracks.
In retrospect, that made perfect sense. After all, the hammer had been exposed to
multiple disintegration attacks and had absorbed impacts that could destroy entire
landmasses head-on. And now, Shea was swinging it around with more force than even
an apostle could muster. Sure, Villedrucken was enchanted with restoration magic and
could repair itself, but it wasn't able to heal as fast as the rigors of battle damaged it.
In fact, it was a miracle it had managed to hold together for this long.
"Vierte, look at her weapon."
"I see."
While they were talking to each other, Shea vanished and reappeared behind Dritter a
second later. Her Body Strengthening was on a completely different level from
anything the apostles had ever seen.
"I'll flatten you!" Shea shouted, swinging Villedrucken down with unbelievable force.
The only thing that saved Dritter from being squashed like Funfte was the fact that all
apostles shared combat experience. Due to that fact, Dritter knew exactly how Funfte
had died, so she simply crossed her claymores behind her instead of trying to turn
around.
"Nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnngh?!"
But of course, the force of Shea's blow was still so strong that she screamed out in pain
through gritted teeth. Unable to fend her off, Dritter was forced to her knees… and
then to the ground. Her claymores let out an ominous cracking noise, and Vierte knew
she had to do something soon or she was dead.
"Haaah!"
With a surprisingly spirited yell, Vierte covered her swords with as much disintegration
magic as possible and drove them into the cracks she'd seen on Villedrucken. She
figured that if Shea lost her weapon, the apostles might stand a chance even if they
were outstatted. However, she'd been far too naive.
"I knew you'd do that," Shea said with a smile. One of Future Sight's derivative skills
was Branching Paths. While Dritter and Vierte had been talking, she'd used it to
simulate what might happen if she tried attacking Dritter, and it had told her that
Vierte would use this moment to attack as well.
Perfectly reading Vierte's attack, Shea lashed out with a wicked-fast kick at her neck.
Vierte was unable to react in time, and her neck let out a sickening crunch as Shea's
foot made contact. Shea then jumped into the air and did an aerial roundhouse kick
with her other leg right into Vierte's stomach, sending her flying.
However, her having to deal with Vierte gave Dritter a moment to catch her breath.
"You monster," Dritter spat.
"I'd say thanks for the praise, but I don't wanna be praised by you."
Right as Shea landed, Dritter fired off a point-blank disintegration beam at her. But of
course, it didn't hit. Shea simply vanished and appeared directly underneath Dritter's
arms a second later. She then stepped forward and drove her elbow into Dritter's
stomach with bone-crushing force.
"Gah!" Dritter groaned as she doubled over, coughing up blood. But before she could
recover, Shea followed up with a high kick that shattered her jaw and sent her flying
into the air. She didn't get very far though, as Shea's hair wrapped around Dritter's leg
and dragged her back down.
"Get wrecked!" Shea shouted, bringing Villedrucken down on Dritter's chest at the
speed of sound. The hammer moved so fast that Dritter couldn't even see it coming.
The blow struck true, obliterating Dritter's upper half and turning her into a stain on
the ground, which had cratered from the impact of Shea's hammer.
Suddenly, a wave of burning heat washed over Shea. One of the remaining apostles
had created a magic circle with their feathers and summoned a wall of flames to use
as a smokescreen so they could land a surprise attack on Shea.
"That won't work on me anymore!" Shea shouted, straining her ears. She couldn't see
through the flames, but she could definitely hear through them. Picking out her
opponent easily, she swung Villedrucken into one section of the flames. But to her
surprise, two figures leaped out, not one.
"Huh?!"
That was the first time her senses had been duped. It seemed Vierte had purposely let
herself be detected after summoning the wall of flames to catch Shea off guard.
Moving at top speed, Hearst burst out of the flames on Shea's side, her claymore held
aloft.
"Die!"
The moment Shea's hammer struck Vierte was when Hearst swung down. Not at Shea,
but at her hammer. Using Vierte as bait proved effective. In the same moment that
Vierte was pulverized, Villedrucken shattered into a million pieces.
The flames disappeared with Vierte's death, clearing up Shea's vision. She kept
turning, the momentum of her earlier swing propelling her, while Hearst's own
momentum shot her right past Shea. For a moment, the two of them were back-toback.
Determined to defeat Shea in the only moment that she was vulnerable, Hearst
planted her feet firmly on the ground. They made deep furrows, but she was able to
forcibly stop her charge. She then turned around and thrust her claymore toward
Shea.
Shea performed almost exactly the same maneuver to stop her momentum, turned
around on a dime, and charged at Hearst.
The two of them clashed midair, blue and platinum streaks slamming into each other.
I cannot lose! Hearst thought.
Victory's mine! Shea thought at the same time.
Hearst poured as much mana as she could into her sword, determined to cut off Shea's
head even through her Steel Form's protection. Her resolve was so strong, in fact, that
it was hard to believe she was just a puppet. In this one moment, all she cared about
was not losing to the enemy in front of her. For once, fulfilling her lord's mission wasn't
even on her mind.
However, while Hearst simply didn't want to lose, Shea wanted to win, which was the
decisive difference between the two of them. Thus, it was inevitable that the latter
would come out on top.
As the two of them drew closer, Hearst saw it all in slow motion. Red liquid started
gathering in the palm of Shea's hand and began molding itself into a familiar shape,
almost as if it was alive.
This was another one of Shea's metamorphosis magic spells, Crimson Warhammer.
Like her Steel Form, it was metamorphosis magic that manipulated her own body,
though this particular spell allowed her to control her blood.
Hearst watched in awe as blood spilled from the cut in Shea's palm and formed a
warhammer. The moment of slow-motion clarity ended there, however, and the two
sides clashed with a thunderous roar. After the exchange, they passed each other by
and landed back-to-back once more.
Shea's hammer dissipated, turning into a flurry of bloody cherry blossoms. Yet more
blood dripped from the cut on her neck, but she remained standing.
Without turning around, Hearst asked, "What is this feeling welling up within me? I
feel as though there's something heavy within my chest, but at the same time, I want
to scream. Shea Haulia… do you know what this feeling is?"
"It's probably disappointment, isn't it?"
"I see," Hearst muttered, nodding in understanding.
A second later, something fell from the sky and stabbed the ground between the two
of them. It was the blade of Hearst's claymore. The bit she was still holding stopped
right after the hilt. Moreover, there was a massive cavity in her chest, and her core was
full of cracks and crumbling away.
Hearst dropped her shattered claymore and looked over her shoulder at Shea.
Relaxing her stance, Shea turned back to face her as well. To her surprise, Hearst's
eyes were brimming with emotion, and she was biting her lip in frustration.
In a whisper, as if admitting it was the same as admitting defeat, she said, "I hate you."
Those words were indeed filled with hate, and also quite a bit of jealousy. Hearst fell
to the ground, maintaining her hateful scowl to the bitter end. It wasn't a very fitting
way to go for an apostle, but it certainly was how a "person" might meet their end.
Shea walked over to her corpse and replied in a smug voice, as if that was the true
reason she had won and Hearst had lost, "Well, I really hate you."
She stood there for a moment, then sat on the ground and let the reality of her victory
wash over her.
Eventually, a soft breeze ruffled her ears. In the distance, she could hear Tio and Freid
still duking it out, but she made no move to get up and go help. Instead, she let out a
long groan, since her body felt numb. At that point, moving anything was like trying to
move underwater. It was a struggle just to stay awake.
"L-Level X really took a toll on me… and using Crimson Warhammer has got me feeling
anemic."
While she hadn't depleted much of her mana, her insane body strengthening had
clearly taken a physical toll on her. Resisting the urge to take a nap, she pulled a healing
potion out of her Treasure Trove and drank it. Then, she looked up toward where Tio
was doing battle.
"Guess now that I've taken care of the apostles, I should help Tio-san with—"
"Graaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"
A series of ear-splitting roars interrupted her. Then, an unbelievable number of
monsters appeared out of nowhere. There were at least a hundred thousand of them
by her count.
"O-Oh shit," Shea muttered, trying to get up. This was no time for her to rest. But
unfortunately, the recoil from using Level X made it difficult for her to even stand.
As she attempted to force her body to work properly, there was a new development
above. A barrage of beams shot downward… and something crashed into the ground
near Shea. The dust cloud it kicked up was so thick that she couldn't even tell what it
was. For a moment she was worried it was an enemy attack, but then the wind cleared
the dust away and Shea visibly paled.
"Tio… san?"
A beaten and battered Tio was in the center of the crater.